Report: Bethesda Obtains S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Rights

A new blog entry is claiming that Bethesda may have acquired the rights to the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series of games.

Ukranian blogger Sergey Galyonkin shared the assertion from a "trusted source", explaining that Bethesda now has the rights to the extended S.T.A.L.K.E.R. universe, though developer GSC Game World has not sold the brand.

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The reason we cannot continue with the development of Stalker 2 is we and our new investors were unable to come to an agreement with the IP rights owner.

It's the latest entry in the complex saga of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, the development status of which is still woefully up in the air. First the game was announced in 2010 for a planned 2012 release, before being cancelled amid rumours of GSC closing down. Then we heard the game still lived and that development was continuing... only for the game to be cancelled again in April this year.

At the time, a post on S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2's official Facebook explained, "The reason we cannot continue with the development of Stalker 2 is we and our new investors were unable to come to an agreement with the IP rights owner. The entire team that was working on Stalker is now working on a new project called Survarium."

So what does this mean for the future of the franchise? Well, Bethesda has issued a predictable "no comment", but fans are already speculating what the similarity in setting between the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and Fallout franchises may lead to if the news is true.